FALLBROOK  Only a handful of people can say that they worked for Disney and Elvis, but those are exactly the two names that jump off Mike Miller’s résumé as an artist.

Miller got his start with Disney in 1957, working on two projects you may have heard of — “Sleeping Beauty” and “101 Dalmations” — for the famous Disney animation department before moving to Las Vegas in 1962.

In Vegas, he said, he ran his own ad agency and design service catering to entertainers: “I spent plenty of time with people like Roy Clark and Elvis — I spent a weekend at the top of the Hilton with Elvis, doing some work for him,” Miller recalled.

On an upcoming Saturday at the Fallbrook Library, Miller will bring all of that experience — plus his second career as a children’s book author and illustrator — to a free art workshop for kids on Nov. 16 from 2 to 4 p.m.

The workshop ties in with a new art exhibit at the library called “Every Picture Tells A Story,” running Nov. 12 through Jan. 6 and featuring the work of Miller and three other children’s illustrators: Kathi McCord, Paul Brewer and Annika M. Nelson.

Miller’s “Tomas the Tortoise” series has seven books in print, although the Las Vegas publisher that picked up the series has since gone bankrupt. (In other words: Go find a copy on Amazon soon if you want one.)

This won’t be Miller’s first foray into Fallbrook: In April, he took home the People’s Choice award for the annual Art of the Avocado competition at the avocado festival, earning nearly 500 votes for a playful take on the Mona Lisa.

As a children’s illustrator, he told me, “I have probably done a dozen (books) for other writers — which isn’t as much fun. When you can write them and illustrate them, the process is a lot easier. Otherwise, you’re trying to pick up on someone else’s pre-conceived ideas of what the illustration should look like.”

Now living in Murrieta, Miller said he wound up participating in the library show after being asked to lend some of his work.

“Not an awful lot of people down here in Southern California really know about these books,” he said. “When I lived in Las Vegas, I was very active in presentations for kids in schools, but I haven’t been as active here.”

Last year, one of Miller’s books, “Play In the Clouds,” was selected by the state of Nevada to go to the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

He said he remembers the sight of 40,000 people on the National Mall to celebrate literature, and that now he can say that one of his books is in the Library of Congress, as well.

It has all been more than Miller expected as he started putting his words and drawings together in 2000.

“I wasn’t pursuing awards or anything like that — I did it because I had stories in my head that I wanted to get out there,” he said.

Miller said he expects to send eight to 10 pieces for the show — original painted illustrations that were reproduced in his “Tomas” books.

Miller’s two-hour program at the library is geared toward kids ages 5 to 12 and includes music, drawing, reading and puppets.

“I do a lot of drawing demonstrations for the kids, showing them that they shouldn’t be afraid to draw,” he said.